Singapore imposes licensing fees on news websites

New York, May 29, 2013--Singapore's plan to impose licensing
fees on news websites will further stifle the press in the city-state's already
claustrophobic media atmosphere, the Committee to Protect Journalists said
today.

"These licensing fees shut another door to public
discussion," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator. "The regulations
allow the government to exert the same pressure on digital media that it already
does over traditional print and broadcast media."

Singapore's Media Development Authority (MDA) issued a statement
on Tuesday that said that any news websites with an average of at least one Singapore-related
news article per week over two months, or any site that gets 50,000 unique
visits, must pay 50,000 Singapore dollars (almost US$40,000) to receive an
annual license. The payment is similar to what individually licensed TV
broadcasters must pay, the statement said.